Rural schools face consolidation questions

DES MOINES - Small-town school districts became an unlikely poster child when the so-called “zero-growth” education funding bill was debated in the Iowa House.

Now, as the Senate looks to pick up the House measure, it's possible those rural school districts will find themselves at the center of the debate once again.

Opponents say that one of the problems with zero growth is it would force rural school districts to consolidate as a way to save money. Zero allowable growth means per-pupil state aid to school districts will remain the same for next academic year as it was this year.

But if history is any guide, rural school districts will continue to consolidate anyway. There were 4,652 school districts in Iowa in 1950. By 1970, there were 453. Today, there are 359 districts, of which 16 are merging into eight by July 1.

Also, there already are four districts that will merge into two districts by July 1, 2012.

“The question becomes do you provide a carrot or a stick,” said Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, a retired teacher who repeatedly attacked the zero-growth bill by saying it would force the consolidation of rural school districts as the legislation moved through House committees and during floor debate.

“I have no problem with providing incentives for school districts that want to reorganize and have had that discussion,” she said. “The stick is starving them to death and not providing adequate allowable growth so they don't have any other options.”

Small-town losses

Even though census data shows the state's overall population grew by 4.1 percent between 2000 and 2010, that growth was centered in urban areas such as Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities. Most rural counties lost population.

Phil Roeder, a spokesman with the Iowa Department of Education, said there's no “hard-and-fast rule” when a school district should consolidate, but a student count of 300 or less has been an unofficial starting point because Iowa law doesn't allow for the creation of districts smaller than that.

In December, a group of University of Iowa undergraduate honor students released a white paper looking at the costs and benefits of rural school district consolidations.

“This report is suggesting that the minimum level (for student enrollment) is 500,” said Caroline Tolbert, a political science professor who advises the students in Iowa Policy Research Organization, which produced the report.

According to the study, the benefits include fiscal savings when services are combined, an increase in property values for smaller school districts, a better variety of educational offerings and an increase in teacher effectiveness.

Drawbacks include the loss of local identity when high schools close, fiscal losses and diminishing student achievement if the districts get too big and increased transportation costs in geographically large districts.

To that end, the report suggests that the optimal maximum student body is 1,000.

Thirty-one percent of the school districts in the state were above that level in 2010.

Minimum population

“We have 66 of our counties that have lost people in the last 10 years,” said Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines.

This year, as in years past, McCoy introduced legislation that would have set a minimum level population for school districts. Those that fell below the threshold would have to consolidate. And, as in years past, his efforts fell flat.

But he hasn't given up.

“What we're looking at doing is getting a study bill in the appropriations legislation to pay for a study that would help determine what we could consolidate to save money,” McCoy said. “It wouldn't be sharing superintendents but looking at the services we can consolidate on a regional level, like transportation.”

Jeff Kruse, superintendent at the IKM Community School District in Manila, is only a few months away from merging with neighboring Manning Community School District in Manning. They officially become one on July 1, combining to become an 800-student district, about 350 of the students coming from the smaller IKM district.

“Our approach was we needed to do this to remain competitive,” Kruse said. “That was really the driving force.”

But there have been some growing pains. Right now, the district has three school boards, one for Manning, one for IKM and one that serves as a transitional board that is aligning the policies of the two districts into one set of rules.

Superintendent Steve Oberg of the Anthon-Oto and Maple Valley school districts, which will officially become one in 2012, said the state incentives of $400,000 a year for three years helped sell the plan to voters. In the smaller Anthon-Oto district, 58 percent approved the merger earlier this month, while 84 percent of the larger Maple Valley district cast “yes” votes.

"We've been whole-grade sharing for 17 years, I don't think most of the people will notice when we officially consolidate,” Oberg said.

Whole-grade sharing is a procedure used by school districts in which most or all or of the students in any grade in two or more school districts share an educational program for most or all of a school day under a written agreement.

Officially, the state continues to take a hands-off approach.

“The decision in terms of whether they want to consolidate lies with local school districts and provide for the best interest of the children in their district,” said Tim Albrecht, spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad. “Ultimately, the paramount consideration on whether districts merge or not should be to serve the best interest of students.”

- By Mike Wiser, Gazette Des Moines Bureau